Flexible columns or, as they are often called, articulable columns, have many uses. For example, they may be employed for positioning tools, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,510,198; as article supports as, for example, for a telephone to make it is adjustable into numerous positions as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 2,533,494; as supports for electric lamps, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,584,822. They may also be employed for locking measuring apparatus in position as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,096,962. There are many more such uses.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,949,927 discloses an articulable column and, more particularly, describes prior art columns of the ball and socket type which are flexible in their normal state and which, by application of tension from a central cable, become rigid.
Other applications of articulable, flexible columns are found in surgical staplers and particularly intraluminal staplers. Examples of intraluminal staplers with flexible shafts or columns will be found in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,473,077, 4,485,817, 4,488,523, 4,671,445 and 4,754,909.
It is an object of this invention to produce an articulable, flexible column which has utility in many fields as, for example, those numerous devices as described above as well as in intraluminal staplers.
Another object of the invention is to produce an articulable, flexible column which has a relatively smooth exterior and which can produced upon being actuated, a rigid column having a greater weight to strength and weight to size than heretofore developed.